


Role Model

by Cephy



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-29
Updated: 2010-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-10 16:43:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cephy/pseuds/Cephy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story of Guy and Luke in the Manor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Role Model

**Author's Note:**

> Knowledge of Guy's backstory very helpful here.

Guy's search took him from one end of the manor to the other, from the entry hall to the courtyard and even, after he'd made very sure no one saw him, the Duke's own bedchamber. But Luke wasn't anywhere to be found, and no amount of calling drew him out into the open, and no one else had seen him since that morning. Guy had asked Pere, who just gave him a slow, sad shake of his head and went back to his gardens. He'd asked the maids, though he usually avoided them as much as possible. He'd even asked Ramdas, though he usually avoided the man and his endless lists of extra chores just on principle.

As a last resort, Guy decided to check Luke's room one more time, though he still came up empty-handed. Standing in the courtyard, after, he turned a slow circle and sighed.

And then stopped, turning back around as his mind caught up with his eyes. He put his hands in his pockets as he slowly walked over to an overgrown corner of the courtyard where, peering through the branches, he could just see a flash of red.

"Hey," he said, stopping just a few steps away. After a moment passed with no response, Guy gave a quick glance around to make sure he wasn't observed, then bent down and pushed through the undergrowth. He settled himself on the ground next to Luke, letting the shrubs come back to screen them from the view of the rest of the courtyard. "What's the matter?" he went on, more quietly.

"Nothing," Luke said, muffled. When he lifted his head, Guy could see that his eyes were red and puffy. "'m not crying."

"Course not," Guy said easily. He ignored Luke's sniffle and looked around instead. The little corner they were in was barely big enough to fit the two of them, and was full of the musty scent of earth and the hard, lumpy edges of rock, but it had a thick screen of vegetation and was sheltered from the wind. "This is a pretty good hiding spot," Guy commented. "Don't think I ever found this one before. Probably wouldn't have this time, either, if I didn't see your hair." He reached up and tugged a bit of the hair in question, fire-bright against the grey and brown.

Luke muttered something that probably would have left his mother scandalized, and put a hand up as if to cover his hair. Guy laughed a little and nudged him in the side. "Don't worry," he said gently, "they haven't sent out search parties yet."

"Just you, hunh?" Luke said sourly.

Guy shook his head. "You didn't show up to practice after lunch," he said simply. "I was worried."

For some reason, that just made Luke look sad again. He tucked his face back down into the crook of his arm. "Doesn't matter if I practice," he muttered.

Guy hesitated, uncertain. "You're getting really good, though," he offered hesitantly. "Even the Commandant said so, the last time he was here. All of your tutors are really impressed."

Luke shrugged listlessly, staring at the ground.

"I think you're doing really well," Guy pushed on, trying.

That made Luke glance over at him, and Guy did his best to look encouraging. When Luke looked away again, he thought he'd failed, but then--

"I tried to show Father how I was doing," Luke said quietly, and Guy immediately bit back a wince. "I asked him to come and see me practice, even said I could start early if he needed to go, but he-- he said--"

Guy frowned; he had a pretty good idea of what the Duke must have said, given the state of Luke's face and his sudden disinterest in the swordwork that had previously been his favourite topic of conversation. Guy opened his mouth, sorting through possible responses-- coming right out and saying that the Duke was a cold-hearted, murderous monster was probably out, despite that being Guy's own long-held opinion-- but in the end he wasn't able to force any comforting lies out of his mouth. "I'm sorry," he eventually said.

"He doesn't care!" Luke burst out, and he must have startled himself with the volume of his voice in the close confines of their hiding place, because his next words were quiet again. "He really doesn't care, does he? He-- he didn't say it, but he might as well have."

There was no easy response to that, either. Guy hesitated for only a second before putting his arm around Luke's shoulders-- no one to see them there, after all-- and letting the boy duck his head against Guy's shoulder. Not crying, of course, and Guy wouldn't dream of arguing otherwise.

He managed to coax Luke out into the courtyard eventually-- not into picking up his practice sword that afternoon, though admittedly Guy didn't push very hard for that. The next day, if Luke was still reluctant, then Guy could work on convincing him; for the moment it was fine to let the hurt settle a bit. And if that still didn't work--

Guy went back to his room that night in a very thoughtful mood. Long after the lamps were doused, he found himself still awake, absently listening to Pere's snoring in the other bed while his thoughts ran themselves down. Finally, he sat up, carefully collecting the small lightstone on his bedstand, a pen and one of his hoarded scraps of paper, and drawing them all under his blanket.

_Vandesdelca_, he wrote carefully, then hastily scrawled out the rest of the message.

He hesitated a moment before sealing it up and setting it aside for the morning's trip down into the city, still not quite convinced that it was the best course of action. It was certainly true that Luke was rapidly outgrowing his current sword tutor, and also that the Duke could hardly turn down the Commandant of the Oracle Knights if he offered his services as a replacement. Guy might have pitched the idea a bit differently for Van, put it in terms of _infiltration_ and _advantage_, but mostly Guy was thinking about the way Luke's face lit up the last time Van had praised him on some small thing.

Problem was, Guy wasn't entirely certain he wanted to have Luke be a part of their plans for the Duke, not anymore, and bringing Van further into Luke's life could therefore make things difficult. Guy _was_ pretty certain that he could convince Van to let Luke alone when they carried out their revenge, with enough time. He hoped he could, anyway; if all else failed Guy could make it an order, but he'd rather have Van's agreement instead of just his obedience.

What was more important just then was that Luke obviously already looked up to Van. He would be ecstatic to have him as a full-time instructor rather than just the few demonstrations he'd had to that point. And really, Luke could benefit from having someone like Van looking out for him; Guy certainly had. There were worse people in the world to look up to.

Duke Fabre being one of them.

Satisfied for the moment, Guy covered the lightstone again and settled down to try to sleep, taking a few deep breaths and forcing tense muscles to relax. He had early duties in the kitchen in the morning, and then endless errands to run in the afternoon if he couldn't convince Luke to chase him around with a practice sword-- he'd need the rest, either way.


End file.
